The Gunns do Florida - Day 10 - Discovery Cove

[bengunn]

Day 10 – Discovery Cove

Previous episodes:

Prequel
Day 1 – The trip to Orlando
Day 2 – Animal Kingdom
Day 3 – Magic Kingdom
Day 4 – Typhoon Lagoon, Shopping and Illuminations Cruise
Day 5 - Islands of Adventure
Day 6 – Epcot
Day 7 – Seaworld
Day 8 – Universal Studios
Day 9 – Epcot and the Magic Kingdom

The Cast:

Richard (bengunn): Chief planner
Kathy : DW, just wants to go on holiday
Josie : DD 20, at Reading University, Assistant Planner, not very good at getting up
Sam : DS 17, just done AS exams, can get up very quickly when he wants to


Sunday 25th August

We were fairly early today and left the villa at 08:35, we were parked at Discovery Cove and in the queue by 09:00 which was the official opening time. Checking in took a while as they have to photograph you all and make up the passes which you have to wear round your neck all day. We chose two separate dolphin swim times so we could video each other; these times bore no relation to the time bands that we had selected when booking on-line.

We were then taken in a small group on a brief guided tour, had our complimentary photos taken, and went to get our masks, snorkels and swim vests. By the time we had grabbed some sun loungers (plenty of these around) it was 10:00.

We swam round the lazy river (or whatever it is called here) this is quite fun as it goes through he aviary and has some ‘Greek urns’ and ‘fossils’ to look at; it would be better with some fish though.

Next we had a snorkel in the Coral Reef pool; this has loads of fish including big rays and also has windows to look through at barracuda and sharks (not in the same pool as you). This pool is excellent and I took lots of photos with my underwater camera which came out really well (camera cost £17 and is reusable).

It was now time for Sam and I to go for our 11:35 dolphin encounter. We were briefed first in a hut at this point I found out that I could have worn my glasses but no time to go and get them ; never mind I could see well enough.

Into the water next and various interaction with two dolphins: Tyler who was 7 years old and Capricorn who was 38 years old, 11 feet long and weighed 600lbs! We were towed by Capricorn for our swim and he is incredibly powerful. This was an amazing experience and should not be missed if you can afford it.

After the swim we were taken into another hut and given computers on which we could view our photos. I felt that the selling here was slightly pressurised and the photos expensive especially if you bought them on a CD. We restricted ourselves to two photos and came out to find that Kathy and Josie were waiting for us so that they could go for their swim at 12:30. The moral here is, if you split your swims, allow well over an hour between them.

I then videoed Kathy and Josie’s swim with Rosie aged 6. It is difficult to get a good vantage point but I managed despite being told to get off one rock by a CM.

After all this, it was time for lunch. There was a good choice for lunch but a bit of a queue due to the fact that, although you don’t have to pay, you have to queue for them to ring it into a till at the checkout (mad isn’t it) . We had 3 burgers which were a bit dry and lukewarm and one stir-fry which was pretty much cold; I am sure that it was warm when we got it, it just got cold in the queue when you are standing in the air conditioning. The food was quite good otherwise and the deserts were excellent; there was also live music while we ate.

After lunch, I collected our photos (total chaos –why can’t any park have a decent photo collection place) and then we went into the aviary; this is excellent as it is divided into about 4 areas with CMs in each who give you small pots of food to feed to the birds. The birds will land on the pots or your hand and one landed on my hat which was a bit disconcerting! We fed about a dozen birds between us. There are also a couple of tiny deer that live in the aviary and try to get the food, which they are not supposed to have.

Next we waded and swam in the ray pool; this is a bit disappointing as there are only rays and a few fish there. I preferred the Corral Reef which also has rays and we went back in there next.

A final swim round the lazy river and it was time to get changed; the park closed at 17:00 but we did not leave until 17:50 and there did not seem to be any rush to get us out.

We then drove to the Marketplace at Downtown Disney and had a wander round the shops. Next we walked to Pleasure Island and had 4 lots of chicken strips from Missing Links as we were not hungry enough for a full meal.

By now it was gone 20:00 and we went into the Adventurers Club. We saw Beazel in the treasure room, an induction in the bar and finally the Balderdash Cup in the library. This is an excellent club and is very funny with lots of audience participation willing or otherwise. We left at about 21:20 as we were pretty tired after all our swimming; all in all a more relaxing day though.


Tomorrow: Kennedy Space Centre

 

[KayleeUK]

What a great day at Discovery Cove

kaylee

 

[vernon]

Glad you had a good trip, we had Cap as well on our swim and he's an incredably powerful animal. By accident more than design we got to DC about 30 minutes before they officially open. This did allow us to get the photograph and prelims done pretty quickly and without queueing. I'm not sure if they will do this on a regular basis but I'd always advise people to get their a little before the official opening, what's the downside? you can sit in your car for 15 minutes .

I think the "ray pool" is really an allowance that not everyone will be able or willing to go into the deeper Coral reef. Having a shallow pool that people ( and kids) can stand up in, does limit their choice of fish to put into the exibit and obviously limits the "excitement value" of that particular exibit ( although DD Sam did really enjoy getting their at feeding time and helping to feed the rays ).

I like the idea of live music at lunch, IMHO they do have to put some kind of control check on people only taking the food they are catered for. It's unfortunate if you coincide your lunch with many of the rest of the guests, like many counter service restaurants I think they need to be a little more flexible on having checkout staff available. In the case of DC, considering the price people pay, I don't thik having a couple of extra people working the checkout ( cost maximim $50 per day) is going to dent their bottom line, but it will take away a potential "bottle neck" that can decrease the guests enjoyment factor quite considerably.

I'd still like to see some type of "meet and greet" or "edutainment" display with birds or reptiles in the early afternoon. IMHO it would give people ( kids) something to occupy them while their lunch digested a little and keep them out of the sun at the hottest part of the day, again it would be a cheap program to put into place, but just offer a little more to people that can't fully enjoy the Coral reef swim.

 

[bengunn]

Thanks for your comments Vernon.

I am sure that you are right about them letting people in a bit befroe the official opening time; unfortunately it took a lot of effort just to get there at opening time .

I agree with you about the purpose of the ray pool but they have extended it so that people can swim there rather than just wade and that seems just a little pointless when you can do the same in the corral reef.

At lunchtime, we actually waited until the queue had died down; we were able to give our food order as soon as we joined the queue but the checkout was still very slow. I don't remember them even having room for more checkout staff; there are just the two queues each side of the kitchen with a till at the end of each line.

A meet and greet would be good; especially as I believe that they have some animals that are not on display unless you do the trainer for a day programme. Having said that, the CMs in the aviary were very well informed and would tell you about any of the birds on display.

 

[Minniespal]

Thanks for the fab report - luv reading them!!!